Tag: facebook

Just how much time do you think an average teenager would spend on Facebook? An hour or so a day maybe? Or make that two hours? Well, you better think again!

A recent report from McAfee revealed that Indian teens spend a massive 86% of their time daily on Facebook followed by 54% on Twitter. Yes folks, gone are the days when teens spent their time on playgrounds or even playing videogames! As of now, Social media is the name of the game.

It comes as no surprise that every brand on the face of the earth would want to publicize their brands of the social media majors. With the brand recall that can be generated, it has become a platform that cannot be ignored. Infact, gone are the days when traditional media like TV/Print would be used to launch a product, quite recently a car manufacturer launched their hatchback using Facebook. Hmmm… Will it make the right impact? Quite obviously!

The report from McAfee also showed that 97% of teens have access to social network, while there is a growing digital divide between teens and their parents.

‘This divide is attributed to the fact that Indian teens are growing up as digital natives, with increasingly active online lives but lack of parental assistance’ – Survey

One of the main attributes for this has to be the link of applications on a smartphone. Yes yes, your reflex question might be – ‘Which 13-year-old uses a smartphone?’ – The answer – Almost half of them. The survey showed that nearly 45% of teens use a smartphone that has Facebook has an application & teens open their Facebook account at an average age of 13.

Between the fine print, this survey represents Facebook as a trusted brand amongst our teens. 89% teens believe social network is safe whereas parents (quite obviously) are less believing at 71%!

With such percentages, would you really not want to invest in probably the strongest marketing tool ever?!

There has always been a time in everyone’s life which makes you think, ‘If only time machines were invented’. The moment when your costly phone fell down, shattering to pieces or when you accidently sent an unwanted message to your teacher. Between these moments you simply stand by wishing there was some way to turn time around. The situation is more pronounced in the world of media and communication where precision means business. A simple misprint or Typo in your daily newspaper can turn Obama into Osama! Printing an apology or retraction in situations as these is inevitable. Even in the world of digital media such situations were considered to be very grave. A wrong news flash or e-mailer is considered detrimental for the rapport of the organization.

With Facebook slowly turning out to be an important factor in the world of media, commanding a reach which surpasses that of any other medium the risk of damage by any error would be huge. However thanks to its features of editing and scheduling posts, the risk has been minimized to a great extent. Facebook can also be named as the new media time machine. Although organizations still need to be careful about what they share or update, the risk of mistake going viral is greatly diminished by its editing features. Facebook allows users to edit posts they have already made thus enabling them to correct errors. Any mistake corrected within few minutes of being posted is less likely to be viewed by a lot of people. In addition to this, the time on the comment is changed to correspond to most recent edit. However a friend or fan that originally received a notification about the post will not receive another notification about the edit.

Another unique feature of Facebook which has helped users master time is ‘Scheduling’. This allows users to schedule posts at a later date and time. Now you don’t need to log in from your vacation or during weekend to post a news or update. Just schedule all your posts in advance and forget about it. It also allows users to backdate a post.

Facebook is an important platform for brand management for companies. It gives them access to large number of viewers and great flexibility in terms of reach and audience. So it can prove detrimental for image of the brand if mistakes and errors are not taken care of before they go viral. These features of Facebook provide them breathing space to a certain extent giving them a certain level of control over actions of users.

With the world of social media becoming more complicated, what features are in store for us and how these changes are going to affect and revolutionize communication is yet to be speculated.

It was a bright Monday morning and all that Rohan expected were Monday morning blues. But there was a lot that he dint expect in store for him. He got into a lot of trouble with his father which came as a surprise to him. Coz as far as he knew, he had done nothing ‘get-into-trouble’ worthy or atleast he had covered his tracks well enough not to get into trouble.

But that definitely wasn’t the case! His father questioned him about his whereabouts over the weekend. According to what his dad knew, he had gone for a group study session at his friend’s house.

So, how did all this happen?? Thanks to his friends tagging him in a few pictures taken at the party he attended over the weekend! His friends had forced him to attend this party as he was one of those ‘studious good-boy’ kinds who never enjoyed partying or drinking! Even though it was the first and only party he ever attended it managed to ruin his image with of his father.

And the outcome of all of this?? He ended up with a strict curfew at home which does not allow him to go out beyond 9 in the evening and night outs are a definite NO NO! And the ‘Trust’ factor has somehow immediately vanished!

Facebook is now probably the most active and popular social media platform.

The reason for the younger generation to be on social media sites like Facebook is probably to catch up with old friends, update them about what is going on in their lives and maybe even meet new people. It does not have the boundaries of having to behave or be responsible, like they have to in real life. They would like to voice their opinions, update their friends about their ‘status’ and most importantly, share photos – more often than not, controversial ones! 

And now, it’s not only the younger generation…Everyone you know is on Facebook! Be it your friends, your spouse, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles or cousins. Even your parents have an account now!

This being the case, it has become impossible for the youth to be themselves on the one place that helped them get away from the daily hassles of life! You are forced to think twice about everything you do. About the comments you leave, the pages you like, the status updates you put up and ofcourse, you definitely cannot afford to be tagged in pictures – be it with you friends, girlfriends/boyfriends, pictures from a trip you took or a party you once attended!

Having half your family on your friends list, anything and everything you do Matters! What you do or don’t do outside of Facebook, the kind of person you are, all of it is questioned. The person everyone thinks you are drastically changes…and not for the better! You are forced to make sure you maintain a crystal clear image even here. And now, it is not any different from your real life. You do not have the freedom to be and do what you please…It has boundaries too! Everything you do changes the person you are!

So the next time you are on Facebook, remember, you may have your Character at stake!!

While most of us use Facebook as a virtual hangout/pastime, a lot of people are using Facebook a groundwork that helps them decide on a life-partner in an arrange Marriage.

So there is no more rotation of bio-data’s and pictures, people just log in to see what the other individual is like, on Facebook!

A female friend of mine whose parents asked her to look up for a boy’s profile on Facebook, overruled the boy because he used a very tacky line in the “About me” description and his profile picture was very distant, which made her assume that he must be ugly so he does not have the self-assurance for a closer picture.

So what are the dos and don’ts one must follow while dating and considering marraige?

Tips for a successful marriage planned through Facebook.

1. Avoid friending your partner’s cousins and family members. They have a habit of going through your oldest albums and digging up your glorious past.

2. Uncles and aunties above 50 are strict NO for your friend list. They are like silent observers of your news feed, who comment and share only in family gatherings.

3. Avoid calling each other ‘Jannu’ and ‘baby’ before your relationship is out in the open i.e. you family also knows about it. This will avoid the rumour mill at work and deprive your older cousins from gossiping for few more days.

4. Do not post 24×7 love messages, pictures and videos on your partner’s wall. It’s can get super irritating if not for you then for your friends who unfortunately are forced to witness your sweet nothings day and night.

5. Asking your cousins or friends to start calling the gal/guy whom you have just been introduced ‘jiju’ or ‘bhabhi’ would be an overkill.

6. Do not change your relationship status based on your mood swings e.g. ‘Oh, finally the marriage date is fixed’ — relationship status: Engaged; ‘We had out first argument. She wants pink to be our marriage theme. I want purple!’ — Relationship status: Its complicated.

Facebook is no more as casual as we would like to believe, it’s a platform for people to judge you. If you’re not on Facebook you are considered old fashioned or an alien, and if you are then there is no escaping the judging eyes.

Is it okay to lie a little on Facebook when considering marriage? Share your opinion

So, we’ve been listening to how Facebook is bad for children, here’s a different take on it. We think if used constructively Facebook can be more beneficial than destructive. Here’s why & what your kid can do on Facebook (For children above 13 of course, as FB doesn’t permit access to children below 13)

Teachers are now looking at the benefits of using Facebook in classrooms

1. They’ve been hearing about in school, and seeing you using it too, stopping them is pointless. You need to make sure that it’s not a forbidden fruit to them which tempts them from time to time!

2. Forward them links to creative and interesting pages that they could learn from

3. If they are into any form art, such as writing, sketching, music, painting or photography, ask them to share their piece of art on Facebook and see what others have to say.

19yr old has more than 50,000 fans!

4.Ask them to participate in online contest, this will give them a huge exposure compared to school competitions as online you have a bigger audience, tougher competition and they know exactly where they stand.

5. If your child is a shy kid then this platform works like a miracle where they get to chat, share opinions, without being very conscious compared to classroom where he the physical presence of 60 or more people make him nervous.

6. Kids staying in hostels or away from home can get lonely at times and this will be a great way to be in touch with everyone, make new friends and be more social.

7. Stopping them is like over protecting them which makes it suffocating for them. Let them be themselves and go discover!

8. Some schools are on Facebook and most of them will be active soon. Schools now have active discussions, reminders, interactive programs and groups for their students. In fact it’s a very good way to keep track of the everyday school activities.

9. You wouldn’t like it if your kid is techtarded, so give him the early advantage and for all you know he could be the next Zuckerberg!
10. It makes them happy! Really happy and isn’t that the most important thing?

You can now also use Hindi in your Facebook mobile app other than Marathi. Hindi along with Vietnamese and Malay has been added to Facebook’s java based Facebook for Every Phone app.

The total number of languages supported in the mobile version now comes up to 14. The company will be adding support for seven more Indian languages over the next few weeks for its app. Bangla, Hindi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Urdu are currently being offered in the web version.

Switch to Hindi can be made through the settings menu in the app and choosing the preferred language. How will the Hindi experience be different? Well, all the menu options will come translated to Hindi. Messages will be सन्देश, New message will become नया वार्तालाप, News Feed will be समाचार फीड, Notification becomes सूचनाए, Refresh becomes ताजा करे, and back is goign to be वापस.

Though, a lot of attention is given to translate minor details that could simplify the app usage for Hindi users. However, the app doesn’t allow users to type in Hindi.

You can download the app by visiting m.facebook.com and scrolling down to the download link, or by entering d.facebook.com/install directly into your mobile browser. You can also find it in leading app stores, including Nokia OVI, GetJar, Appia, and Mobile Weaver.

When a post like this appears on the newsfeed, I’m sure every soul wants to plead:Please delete

5. Auto theme changer: Imagine if you were to log into your Facebook on 16th March and see your Facebook theme as Sachin (on the occasion of his 100th century) and 23rd March, spring theme! Wouldn’t you be pleasantly surprised (I’m talking about a majority at least) and look forward to these automatically changing themes? Facebook needs a refreshing look considering we log on to it nearly four times a day!

Trance Music anyone?

6. Profile pic zoom: Isn’t it irksome when someone has a profile picture that you don’t understand because it’s too miniscule and you would HAVE to click on it that leads to their profile. Now think if we just move our cursor on the profile picture icon and the picture zooms in and gives you a enormous view of it without having you to click on it! Pretty cool huh?

7. What’s popular: a section where we can see what’s doing the rounds thought-out the world on Facebook. Here’s something I liked on Google http://www.google.com/zeitgeist

Yahoo recently filed a law suit against Facebook over patent infringement claiming that technology used by the social network actually belongs to the search engine. Gearing up to this law suit, Facebook has purchased 750 patents from IBM, this was reported by VentureBeat today. Though, no additional details were provided by Facebook spokesperson on the issue.

Yahoo had to face a lot of criticism as entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley veterans came in support of Facebook. According to popular perception the claims made by Yahoo aren’t substantial as same features and technology have been used by others as well.

Yahoo has claimed infringement on two privacy patents, four advertising patents, two customization patents, one messaging patent, and one social networking patent” according to the blog.

Is Facebook panicking by purchasing large number of patents from IBM? Difficult to say as the social networking behemoth has only 56 patents with 503 filed and pending. Moreover, Facebook probably wants to come clean before its IPO hits the market.

Facebook has expressed its disappointment on the hostile action taken by Yahoo and vowed to defend itself vigorously. Its spokesperson had earlier told media, “We’re disappointed that Yahoo, a longtime business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation… we will defend ourselves vigorously against these puzzling actions.”

You like it or not it’s difficult to break old and time tested ties. And guess what the colonial past of several countries is catching up with them.

Any guesses how? Well, it’s the Facebook, the 845 million strong social network which has users from each and every country of the world shows unique set of relationships between people of a particular region and the colonial power which once ruled them long time back.

According to the recent data released by Facebook, people living in countries which were once ruled by colonial powers such as Britain, Spain, France and Portugal still has more affinity in terms of shared friends.

Depicted through this color coded map, darker the blue higher is the fraction of foreign Facebook connections with the colonial power in question. The data consists of 214 countries ranked according to their strength of relationship.

Britain’s Facebook population shows strong ties to New Zealand, Australia and swathes of east Africa. Those Facebooking in West Africa have more in their friend lists in France. Latin American region with dominating Spanish speaking population is strongly tied to Spain. Brazilians are firmly linked to Portugal, same for the people in Mozambique, Angola and Guinea-Bissau.

Stagnation in world economies has taken marketing gurus by surprise and beyond doubt has dented consumer sentiment. However, the 840mn strong social network that is Facebook feels like fresh air for brands when you tell them that more than half of its users log in on a daily basis. Well, that’s not it when it comes to these users loving (read liking) brands on Facebook India has been doing much better compared to US.

This data was released by digital marketing research company eMarketer recently. When asked if users will follow or ‘like’ brands on Facebook, 24% Indians answered in affirmative. For US this was just 10%. For another question on whether social networking sites are a good source of word of mouth information on brand experiences, 27% Indians agreed followed by US with 18%

Overall social networking usage is gaining momentum in emerging markets like Brazil and China followed by India where users are more likely to engage with brands online. Experts have predicted that over half of total social media ad revenues in 2012 would come from outside the US, the study quoted.

All organizations, businesses or individuals are set to gain by this social boom irrespective of their revenue model or company size. So, don’t be left out and set up a page for yourself or your brand. To set up your Facebook page click here.

Still not sure how to get those fans on your side? We are always here to help.